The relationship between theory and methods

Question 1

what do positivists and interpretivists have differing conceptions of?

Answer 1

The nature of society

Question 2

How do positivists see society?

Answer 2

As a reality external to individuals - social structures and social facts exist independent of the individual which exercise constraint over them and mould their behaviour.

Question 3

How do interpretivists see society?

Answer 3

as a socially constructed set of meanings shared by a social group

Question 4

What is there a conflicting view of and a basic agreement of between positivists and interpretivists?

Answer 4

About what counts as proposer sociological research evidence and different explanations and understandings of human behaviour.

Question 5

how do positivists believe social behaviour can be measured and explained?

Answer 5

objectively - can and should be researched according to the same/ similar principles and methods used in natural sciences which includes the hypthetico-deductive model

Question 6

What is positivists research more likely to involve?

Answer 6

large scale/ macro research on large numbers of people and is generally associated with structural theories of society e.g. marxism and functionalism

Question 7

What are the quantitative statistical techniques which positivists tend to use?

Answer 7

• official statistics
• experiment
• comparative method
• social surveys
• structural questionnaires
• formal/ structured interviews
• non participant observation

Question 8

How do potivists see quantitative methods?

Answer 8

As valuable providing quantitative empirical data which represented samples and survey techniques that can be generalised to the whole of society.

Question 9

How do positivists view quantitative data?

Answer 9

As reliable - findings can be checked and replicated.

Question 10

What do quantitative methods involve?

Answer 10

Objectivity and personal detachment of researchers from those they study and therefore positivists argue researchers avoid the risk of personal values and prejudice influencing research.

Question 11

What do positivists see quantitative methods producing?

Answer 11

The kind of data which allows the creation of the cause-and-effect explanations of human behaviour and of predictions of what might happen in similar circumstances in the future.

Question 12

What do interpretivists suggest methods adopted by positivists don’t produce?

Answer 12

A true account of society as they simply impose the researchers own framework of assumptions on those being studied.

Question 13

Criticisms of positivists:

Answer 13

• Decide which questions are asked or not asked.
• Little opportunity for people to elaborate about what they think/ feel.
• Detachment of the researcher means they don’t develop empathy necessary to really understand the meaning and interpretations people hold.
• Statistics positivists produce though surveys are social constructions created by the categories and questions positivists themselves create.
• Official stats viewed by positivists as factual info are seen by interpretivists as social constructions - record of decision making by officials, over which stats are/ arent collected and how they categorise events e.g. suicide stats - interpretivists suggest nothing more than a record of a coroners decision making in classifying sudden, unexplained deaths.

Question 14

What are Interpretivists more concerned with?

Answer 14

Understanding the meanings individuals give situations and how these perceptions direct social action.

Question 15

What do Interpretivists think about using procedure of natural sciences?

Answer 15

That they are wholly innapropriate for the study of society because society is different from the natural world.

Question 16

What do interpretivists argue about measuring peoples meanings and methods?

Answer 16

These cannot be measured or discovered by quantitative methods.

Question 17

What do Interpretivists adopt?

Answer 17

An inductive approach to form theories rather than hypothetical-deductive methods used by positivists - more open-ended.

Question 18

Where do theories emerge from?

Answer 18

The accumulation of insights, issues and evidence gained through research into meanings and interpretations people hold - roves the possibility of discovering ideas that those using the hypothetico -deductive method may not have even thought of.

Question 19

What do Glaser and Strauss call grounded theory?

Answer 19

Theory arising from an inductive approach as it is grounded in an analysis of data that might have been collected.

Question 20

What do interpretivists generally adopt?

Answer 20

Weber’s verstehen approach - developing closeness and empathy with people to understand the world through their eyes rather than the detachment preferred by positivists.

Question 21

What do Interpretivists see the need to get?

Answer 21

Pero sally involved with people through deep conversations in unstructured interviews by close observation and participation in their activities to gain insight into their world, motives and meanings behind actions. E.g. Interpretivist research on crime is less likely to use the positives approach of looking for the causes of crime but is more likely to be studied as Becker studied it looking at how and why some behaviour becomes labelled criminal or deviant while other behaviours dont.

Question 22

What type of research methods are interpretivists more likely to use?

Answer 22

Qualitative methods.

Question 23

What type of research do Interpretivists use?

Answer 23

Small scale micro research associated with social action theories such as symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology.

Question 24

What do Interpretivists methods include?

Answer 24

• Use of personal accounts and personal documents such as diaries and letters.
• Unstructured/ semi-structured open ended questionnaires.
• Informal interviews, focus groups and group interviews.
• Small scale case studied of group interaction.
• Participant and sometimes non-participants observation.

Question 25

What do positivists believe about interpretivist research?

Answer 25

- Lacks reliability. - Dependent upon the researchers own interpretations of the meanings people hold or answers they give. - Close relationships of interviewer with subjects cold make findings invalid due to interviewer bias. - Hawthorne effect. - Hard to check as so much depends on the personal characteristics/ skills of the researcher. - Limited to small-scale research which isn’t generalisable to the whole population or even other groups.

Question 26

Society is an objective reality made up of social structures/ social facts that exist independently of the individuals living in society.

Answer 26

Individuals are constrained/ moulded by and react to external social forces and social structures that exist outside of them and cause their behaviour. The job of sociologists is to examine and measure these social-structural constraints involving a macro or large-scale approach.

Question 27

Structural theories like functionalism and Marxism - how society moulds and controls individual behaviour

Answer 27

Structural theories adopt a macro approach studying the role of social institutions/ social structures like the family, education, the law, religion, media and economy in shaping and moulding behaviour.

Question 28

Positivist or scientific approaches

Answer 28

- Sociology can and should study society using similar methods and procedures to those in the natural sciences. - This may allow discovery of the causes of human behaviour and predictions of future trends. - Such methods include using the hypothetico-deductive model to test theories and quantitative methods to collect empirical data to measure social facts.

Question 29

More quantitative methods applied with objectivity and detachment to collect stats on empirical data

Answer 29

- Use of standardised research methods and careful sampling techniques enables the collection of statistical data that is reliable and representative. - This enables positivists to apply their findings to the whole of society and make generalised statements about the causes and effects of social activities.

Question 30

Use of stats either collected by sociologists using surveys or existing official stats such as those on crime, suicide, health, unemployment or poverty

Answer 30

- Using representative samples and quantitative methods or large-scale official stats collected nationally by government agencies provide reliable quantitative data. - Interpretivists reject official stats because they see them as socially and politically constructed and therefore lack validity e.g. suicide stats are a record of decision-making and labelling by coroners.

Question 31

Experimental methods - controlled lab experiments, field experiments or comparative method as an alternative

Answer 31

Comparative method most likely to be used as closet alternative to natural science lab method. Avoids problems of using the experimental method to study society such as artificial conditions, ethical risks of harm to ppts, practical difficulties of controlling variables in open systems and small-scale creating issues of representativeness and generalisability.

Question 32

Large-scale sampling surveys, using structured questionnaires and structured interviews

Answer 32

- Produce representative quantitative data on large numbers of people that is reliable. - Involve personal detachment of researcher. - Reduce risks of interviewer bias and promote objectivity. - Interpretivists see detachment as not getting at what people really think and structured questions risk imposition where the researcher imposes their framework and assumptions on those being researched.

Question 33

Non-participant observation

Answer 33

- Retains detachment and it is possible to collect quantitative data by categorising observations. - Interpretivists say data lacks validity as researchers don't know what meanings and interpretations those being observed give to behaviour.

Question 34

View of society: Society is a social construction of meaning that has no objective reality or existence independent of meanings and interpretations people hold.

Answer 34

Explanation: Individuals have free will and choice. They actively construct society through their social action driven by the meanings and interpretations they give to their own behaviour and that of others. The job of sociologists is to understand these meanings and interpretations involving a micro or small-scale approach.

Question 35

Theoretical perspective: Social action or interpretivist theories ,like symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology - how the action of individuals is based on the meanings they hold and how they make sense of the world.

Answer 35

Explanation: Social action theories adopt a micro approach, studying interaction between individuals in a small group to discover meanings and motivations behind their actions and how these are created in the process of interaction.

Question 36

Methodological approach: Interpretivist approaches

Answer 36

Explanation: Society is fundamentally different from the natural world. Sociologists have to adopt verstehen approaches that enable them to gain insight into peoples motivations and meanings by seeing the world as they do, and building grounded theories using an inductive approach and qualitative data.

Question 37

Research methods used to collect data: More qualitative methods aimed at achieving validity through involvement and empathy to gain insight and understand meaning.

Answer 37

Qualitative methods enable greater understanding of peoples meanings, interpretations and motives, and how these influence their behaviour. Verstehen sociology with researchers putting themselves in the position of the person or group being studied is the key to understanding social life.

Question 38

Research methods used to collect data: Newspapers, autobiographies, personal diaries, letters and other personal documents, personal oral histories

Answer 38

The study of these can provide insight into peoples personal views and opinions told by the people themselves. So-called social facts preferred by positivists like official stats are constructions. E.g. official suicide stats are a social construction and interpretivists prefer to study coroners decision-making to understanding the rules they use to interpret sudden deaths and label them as suicides thereby creating official stats.

Question 39

Research methods used to collect data: Uncontrolled experiments like some field experiments and small-scale case studies of group interaction

Answer 39

Field experiments like Garfinkel enable the discovery of the meanings and assumptions people attach to everyday interaction - case studies can provide an in-depth account of social life from the point of view of those being researched.

Question 40

Research methods used to collect data:

Answer 40

Involvement and closeness of the researcher with the researched help to provide valid, in-depth info. Building trust and empathy and group interaction through focus groups and group interviews can draw out peoples real thoughts and feelings and gain insights into what they really think as they can express and develop answers in their own words. Helps avoid the imposition problem in the structured questionnaires and interviews used by positivists. Positivists argue such small-scale research tends not to be representative. Hard to replicate findings, and the closeness and involvement of the researcher with the researched can produce distorted, invalid findings generated by factors like interviewer bias.

Question 41

Research method used to collect data: Participant observation

Answer 41

Enables verstehen by fully immersing the researcher in the world of the researched. Produces highly valid in-depth and detailed accounts of the world as seen by those being researched. Positivists see this closeness and involvement producing data that aren't reliable as it's hard to check findings which depend on the researchers interpretations of what they observe.

Question 42

What is feminist ontology?

Answer 42

A philosophical approach that challenges traditional ideas of identity.

Question 43

What are feminist methods concerned with?

Answer 43

The best methods of capturing the experiences of women.

Question 44

Which researchers have feminists been critical of in the past and why?

Answer 44

Positivists - male bias and male stream methods.

Question 45

Point: Ignored and excluded women and issues of concern to women.

Answer 45

Explanation: Miles - much positivist research has a masculine bias on social life and ignores the experience of women e.g. 'work' refers to paid employment ignoring work in the home. Oakley - pioneering study on housework faced opposition from some sociologists who didn't see it as a serious topic worthy of sociological study.

Question 46

Point: Uses malestream methods to research the experiences of women

Answer 46

Explanation: Westmarland - cites the conduct of positivist structured interviews as an example of a male stream method - conducted with distance and detachment between interviewer and interviewee, researchers don't reveal their feelings or views and don't share their knowledge with the respondents. Oakley - sees such methods as an aspect of the power relationships